Ideal Cove and Petersburg
Our morning started with calm glassy water, blue sky and a stunning view of snow-capped peaks in the west. Ideal Cove was our anchorage for a great hike into three lakes named Sand, Hill and Crane. These small bodies of water and the forest leading up to them are perfect destinations for a morning outing. The Forest Service has provided a board walk of 12-inch planks that extends around all three lakes. The aerobic hike made a loop out to the farthest point, while many others made it to Hill Lake. The flat places and lake margins have examples of muskegs and their specialized plants. Northern tall and white bog orchids were in bloom as well as the white blossoms of deer cabbage and western rattle-snake root.
The handy work of beavers dammed up the lake and raised the water level several feet. The sound of trickling water is one of the main motivators to put these fuzzy-faced engineers to work. The higher the water becomes, the more safety they are assured in their quest for food. To the casual observer it may not appear that there are many beaver foods here. Yellow pond lily floated on the water’s surface along with pondweed leaves. Both are important in providing essential sodium and iodine in the beaver diet. Horsetails and the bark and leaves of alders and willows are also eaten. They will even occasionally eat spruce needles.
Our expedition leader saw a porcupine on the shore as she was driving a Zodiac to pick up guests. It waddled hurriedly into the margin of plants near the landing, yet many hikers were still able to see it as they returned. Porcupines often climb trees when they feel threatened but this one continued to merely amble along.
The fishing boats around Petersburg were busy. Several unloaded fish at the canneries as we entered the harbor. One of today’s photos is of a Bonaparte’s gull within a flock attracted to fish waste from the canneries. A resident northern sea lion swam in front of our ship like a pilot guiding us to our dock. This is a prosperous fishing town with no t-shirt shops but a good hardware store where one can purchase rubber gloves, boots and woolen garments. It’s easy to like Petersburg.
Dock walks to look at fishing boats and a stroll through a beautiful muskeg were offered as guided outings. Purse seine fishermen were readying their boats for an opening. The muskeg walkers watched an active eagle’s nest and looked at a variety of vegetation including carnivorous sundews. These plants catch insects by snaring them with sticky droplets. The flailing creature soon gets stuck, which signals the leaf to rapidly grow cells on the opposite side from the struggle. Within hours the hapless prey becomes enclosed by the leaf and is attacked by the digestive enzymes on the sundew’s surface. Many insects have been captured on this plant. Check out the one in the upper right corner of the photo where the leaf has already curled.
During recap a guest speaker spoke about conservation efforts in Southeast Alaska. A crab feast followed as we headed north for new adventures.
